Dexter export is a first

[Jac]

Some individual direction wouldn't go amiss, for a start.

I feel that the marketing of some 10/20000 animals is beyond tinkering round the edges.

[Rob R]

I agree, the marketing of Dexter beef by the society is clearly aimed at prospective buyers of cattle, not at consumers and it works well. Individuals still need to address the end goal for their herd before breeding them (including costings), though, else no amount of marketing will do the trick, in any breed of livestock.

ETA - marketing initiatives in the past seem to have been of limited value because they cream off the 'best' (ie most marketable) animals and leave the remainder to form a surplus. There's only so many high end restaurants/celeb chefs and butchers that will feature Dexter beef as a speciality, so the average person on the street has never heard of it.

I think breed is of limited value in marketing, as even the schemes that are out there for Angus & Hereford rely on hitting specs that not all can manage, and the premiums are a little but not significantly more. A collective can form a marketing group but buyers will want consistency which is difficult to replicate across many small producers. Before we pay too much attention to gaining extra customers for Dexter beef we have to be confident that we can produce it economically so that they won't just try it once and say how nice it is but keep on coming back for more.

I think the collective group effort has merit, but I tend to think it has more merit in terms of buying inputs, knowledge transfer and reducing costs (whilst also promoting the beef), rather than having producers doing their own thing in production and expecting the premium to cover their costs.

[Jac]

the average person on the street has never heard of it

How do you suggest we address this because as far as I can tell people seem to be selling their beef below supermarket prices? I'm one of them having just been into Morrisons for some Christmas Baileys and had a shock on the meat counter looking at their 21 day matured beef.

[Rob R]

the average person on the street has never heard of it

How do you suggest we address this because as far as I can tell people seem to be selling their beef below supermarket prices? I'm one of them having just been into Morrisons for some Christmas Baileys and had a shock on the meat counter looking at their 21 day matured beef.

I'm making a suggestion, I don't have one, as explained below in my post I think the focus is in the wrong place. However, your experience appears to confirm that getting people to know about Dexter beef and getting producers to produce it more efficiently doesn't matter; if your costs are already allowing you to sell cheaper than the supermarket then why even bother trying to sell "Dexter beef"? just sell "beef" at very reasonable prices!

[Jac]

When the latest round of beef initiatives was bought in, I and many others felt that it would assist in clearing up the surplus stock that had been created through promotional efforts and in getting rid of those that hadn't made the grade. It didn't happen. Instead of reducing numbers the surplus was sold and bred from thus boosting numbers still further and as you say

Individuals still need to address the end goal for their herd before breeding them

but they didn't and the situation got worse.

When it was muted that funds should be made available for marketing the beef by a professional organisation it fell on deaf ears. I have to say that at first, it does seem wrong to use charitable funds (however they were raised) for promoting other people's businesses. But, there is a big difference between selling beef and marketing beef and whether it is profitable or not is irrelevant because no serious pedigree livestock breeder is naive enough to believe they will get rich quick (or even rich at all), if it provides an outlet for breeders for whom beef is a by-product of their pedigree breeding programme i.e. those animals that don't make the grade, then that is to the good of the breed. It is not something that can be done by the individual as the resources required to tackle this effectively are quite substantial.

[Rob R]

Beef should never be a by-product, showing and pedigree breeding should be the by-product of producing good, affordable beef (the only exception being dairy, with beef as a by-product, but that would require the dairy side to be viable). If you don't focus on that simple fact any initiative will not be cost effective. Pedigree livestock breeders produce stock that has no intrinsic value if it isn't underpinned by some form of production, be that quantity and/or efficiency.

However, why do we need to produce "Dexter beef" at all? If your observations this afternoon are correct, we don't need to differentiate, just sell good beef.

ETA - take a look at other societies like the Jersey & Limousin breeds - they're aren't marketing milk & beef!

[Jac]

A registered Dexter should be fit for the job whether that be limited milk or limited beef production since it is a dual-purpose breed. An animal might be a mismark and still produce very good beef but it is not correct. If the main goal is to produce beef to earn a crust then why belong to a breed society or register any stock?

[Rob R]

A breed society's value is in the records it keeps and schemes it operates, the herdbook, health schemes, genetic testing, etc.

[Jac]

A breed society's value is in the records it keeps and schemes it operates, the herdbook, health schemes, genetic testing, etc.

I agree. There is also a moral responsibility as other breeds of animal are having to face up to the reality of increasing numbers and a limited market. While the Society would I am sure never advocate irresponsible breeding for some, the idea of sending their Dexters to slaughter is viewed with the same distaste as sending in their ponies. So perhaps a stronger message is required?

http://www.exmoorponysociety.org.uk//in ... &Itemid=98

[Rob R]

Yet the DCS says this;

What about carcass quality?

The breed is early maturing. Beef of excellent quality and flavour, with good marbling, can be produced economically. Dexter steers can finish on grass at 20 -24 months of age without supplementary feeding, with average carcase weights of between 145 - 220 Kg's. Because their good meat to bone ratio, a killing-out percentage of over 56% can be achieved.

The meat is very popular with the consumer, though farm shops, farmers markets and home freezer consumption because of its outstanding flavour, small joints and minimal waste.

with absolutely no information/evidence of how this is achieved. An average carcass weight isn't a range, it's a single figure. Also a good meat to bone ration doesn't have a bearing on the killing out percentage whereas the boning out percentage does.

I do think one or two individuals could, if they had a mind to, make a massive difference to the breed by buying up available breeding stock and beefing them.

[Louisa Gidney]

It's not just owners that are squeamish about killing but potential customers too. I did a "commercial break" at dance group last night, explaining I need to gauge interest before booking in a steer as I've no freezer space. The collective response was not to order beef so the animal's life could be extended! They all seemed so pleased with this, no concept of where I'll house him, what he'll eat, weight/condition loss etc. He's absolutely fit to go but I don't want to buy a second freezer for fairly short term storage.
There was also a total lack of interest in roasting joints, but possibly a bit of steak or stewing might go.

[Rob R]

I think many people come to the breed with unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved (with both breeding & butchering stock) and these expectations are perpetuated by breeders & the society. Membership does little to help & so is just an added cost. We need to be more proactive in providing the tools & encouraging breeders to achieve the real potential of the breed so that they stay with the society and don't just leave with burnt fingers.

ETA - that's 'we' as in all of us, not just the society. A bit of collaboration between breeders to ensure long term sustainable outlets for steers and excess heifers should be achieveable, with realistic returns for all concerned, without a central effort. There's only so much margin in a Dexter steer and not everyone in the chain can take the lion's share, so it needs to be recognised that the financial rewards, if any, are hard won and the result of careful cost management, they don't happen by accident.

[Jac]

I was about to ask Louisa why doesn't she advertise her steer on the site when I looked and saw all the steers already advertised. Have they gone but not been removed or are they all still for sale?

[Mark Bowles]

I have steers available, i have had 75% males over the last 2 years, i now have 28 steers from finishing to 2 weeks old....thats a lot of beef customers!!

[Rob R]

Therein lies the other problem of breeding livestock - their constant ability not to conform to the law of averages. Last year I too seemed to end up with a 25/75 split in favour of males (not sure off the top of my head what it is this year, but it's more males than females). So at the moment I'm not buying in many steers but then you have the challenge of working out what your demand will be in the 2 1/2 years it takes from conception to slaughter. Even if we work together for a beef finisher to take all steers from a few pedigree breeders, there are always going to be natural peaks and troughs to overcome. Such is farming.